Adderall: My Story

The stimulant drug, Adderall, has gained tremendous momentum since I started taking it more than seven years ago.

It was easy to be prescribed the drug. My mother was a middle school special education teacher at the time. She explained to the doctor that I was struggling in my classes, having a hard time focusing, and feeling constantly tired due to heavy involvement in extracurricular activities.

The doctor took my mother’s word as gold and prescribed me Adderall. I didn’t even take the T.O.V.A. assessment, a performance test that determines if an individual is suffering from A.D.H.D., when it is normally a requirement.

Before I knew it, I was consuming 35 milligrams of Adderall every morning. There were many side effects, but as a middle school girl going through changes, I didn’t mind.

Some of my side effects included loss of appetite, weight loss, “zombie-like” personality change, and dry mouth. I experienced similar symptoms to Mary Patterson and Trey Jones, but unlike Jones, Patterson and I continue to take the medication.

My opinion of the medication has not changed since recent discoveries proved it damages brain receptors. Adderall helps me focus, keeps me in my daily routine, and helps me avoid overeating. I wouldn’t be able to sell my Adderall if I wanted to, I’m just too addicted. I will continue to take the stimulant as long as they are made available to me.

There was speculation when the drug was first introduced in the 1990s that it was only meant for children and adults with disabilities, like down syndrome. Parents were against putting their healthy child on medication like this. However, the Adderall consumption has doubled in the last three years, which is causing a supply and demand issue.

Just this year, I spent the summer without my Adderall. My doctor moved to practice in a different state, so I had to find a new doctor that could prescribe me Adderall without having to take the $600, T.O.V.A. assessment.

I thought my biggest issue would be finding a doctor that doesn’t require the assessment, but it was more difficult to find a new doctor that would accept new patients. The reason most doctors’ offices in the Auburn area were not taking new patients was due to the rising Adderall addiction epidemic.

The addiction has affected many people who need the medicine to make it through their day to day lives. The dramatic shift in parents’ beliefs in recent years has caused a shortage.

I agree with Dr. Willis’, my new doctor, theory. She said parents use medication, specifically Adderall, as a form of discipline. I feel ways restrictions on Adderall prescriptions could be enforced is by requiring the T.O.V.A. assessment to new perspective A.D.H.D. patients. This will minimize the wrongful prescriptions being distributed.

With this new form of addiction, it is now in doctors’ hands to depict which patient needs or does not need Adderall to get this epidemic under control.